It's worth mentioning what Justin said last Monday. You have two guys that LOST in the last season of NXT (McGillicuddy and Harris) about to go over Cena and Orton to become a part of Nexus and start a major push, while Kaval WON the competition and is constantly being positioned as a major loser. It just shows that no matter what happens, the E will push who they want to push and they really don't give a damn who the fans want at the end of the day.

As we go into UT/Kane Buried Alive, it's worth mentioning again that UT rarely ever wins his supposed specialty matches.

Cole on SmackDown works to gin up RAW/SD dissension, but the WWE needs to put Striker or Grisham on RAW to keep it up. I don't enjoy Cole on the Friday show, especially when he's doing this jerk shtick (my name band name). If Grisham was so bad that he needed Cole to bail him out, now he has to juggle Cole AND Show on the headset. This isn't MNF, people; we don't need more voices.

Having said that, Show was damn solid on the mic, putting over RAW and SD with ease. THEN he worked a skit backstage and a match. Maybe he only has this captain gig to sell Knucklehead, but he's shining in this spotlight. Not that he was slack beforehand. When he's allowed to display some personality (heel or face; ECW champ or partner to Jericho and Miz), he's entertaining. He has certainly taken advantage of the PG packaging that presents a good-time giant as a kid-friendly monster.

I don't mind Reks beating Kaval. It gives both new guys an immediate angle outside of the PPV, presumably one that can last beyond the PPV. Small kicker against strong brute -- it's a classic dynamic. I like Reks's finisher too.

The Cody half of the tag champs had a much better showing than the Drew half. Kofi's placement on the PPV team allows a dreadlock combination with Reks that threatens the very fabric of reality. I did spot a screw-up with Cody's entrance. When he pretends to be broadcast on the entrance mirror, he turned the wrong way to go down the ramp. It didn't match the mirror video.

Del Rio has lost no luster since losing to Rey, and Masters gave a Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling performance. I still like Masters and think he can still provide something in the midcard beyond squash fodder. The Del Rio Code(arm)breaker was tight, yo.

Edge/Dolph was awesome until the clunky ending. If this was to be Edge's version of Orton's "anytime RKO," it landed with a thud. But the rest of the bout was strong.

The main event talk is dragging a bit, and we need to see either brother work a match. I liked Bearer's solo monologue (and his dilution of the high wail), but Kane is getting into the easy cliche of berating the audience for having pitiful lives compared to his. Kane, you spend all your time hanging out with your pasty dad. You're the champ. Where's the women? Where's the bling? If you're gonna brag about being without limits, you gotta shift from your pre-title routine. But I'm not mad at you; you brought back the AWESOME ring of fire. And now Taker has a ring of eldritch clouds.

A fun episode.

EDIT: Not a good night for any SD title holder. Odd that they're all heels. There's gotta be a title change on SyFy to boost interest, right?

(edited by Matt Tracker on 16.10.10 1156)"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker

I read a couple of house show reports a month or two ago that said that Reks was receiving some of the biggest heel heat. Now, that could have been based on who he was facing (I don't remember) but he's been off TV for a year now, working heel the entire time.

Something worth considering is that when he first appeared in ECW last year, he had only been wrestling professionally for 18 months and was working through a knee injury at the time of his debut. It has been another year and a half since then and he's presumably healthy now so I would expect him to be much improved from his ECW days.

Also, apparently his finisher is an Argentine DDT but I'm assuming they'll come up with a much better name than that. Then again, they never did give Swagger's gut-wrench powerbomb a name, so who knows?

Also, I just now noticed that I left a bold tag open in the recap, so I suppose I'll go fix that now.

Originally posted by InVerseAlso, apparently his finisher is an Argentine DDT but I'm assuming they'll come up with a much better name than that. Then again, they never did give Swagger's gut-wrench powerbomb a name, so who knows?

Too bad, because the name Swagger used for the move before then (the Red, White, and Blue Thunder Bomb) is freakin' fantastic.

If I actually remember to fill out an RSPW awards ballot this year, I'm totally voting for Cody Rhodes as most improved. Last year, I would've (if I'd remembered) voted for him as Least Favorite. It's not just the Dashing gimmick either, he's really stepped it up in all areas and proved it with a super-solid match with Rey. Loved the wheelbarrow suplex bit, the Beautiful Disaster, and the extra fear of the 619 because he needed to protect his face (Cole yelling for him to protect his face when Rey hit it was good on Cole's part, too).

Taker's fire summoning gesture was amazingly weak. Kane's gotta teach him how to commit to that. He looked like he was having a seizure.

Love all things Alberto Del Rio. The wink to the Big Show was extra great.

I really hope people are right about Tyler Reks improving, because he was absolutely wretched and dull back when I saw him on ECW. Seeing Kaval's treatment was the main downside of this ep, as the whole thing seemed mainly designed to humiliate him.

Edge's mid-air spear was awesome. I'm not sure why, but I can't find any affection for Dolph Ziggler. He has all the basic parts and seems like I should like him, and yet I remain bored. It's weird.

My only question & someone has to know this. When the heck did they pull the plug on the original Reks character & turn him into this? I'm kind of diggin the "Survivor" stranded on an island hair look.